Origins and Establishment of Kazoku
– Prince Tokugawa Iesato was the first head of the Tokugawa clan after the overthrow of the shogunate and was President of the House of Peers from 1903-1933.
– Former samurai families became part of the kazoku during the Meiji era.
– The ancient court nobility of Kyoto, the kuge, regained some of its lost status after the Meiji Restoration.
– Members of the kuge played a crucial role in the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate.
– The Meiji government merged the kuge with the former daimyo into an expanded aristocratic class.
The Kazoku Peerage
– Itō Hirobumi intended the kazoku peerage to serve as a political and social bulwark for the restored emperor and the Japanese imperial institution.
– The kazoku consisted of 142 kuge families and 285 former daimyo families, totaling 427 families.
– Members of the kazoku without an official government appointment in the provinces were initially obliged to reside in Tokyo.
– A pension system was adopted, gradually displacing the kazoku from their posts as provincial governors and government leaders.
– The heads of certain kuge families were ennobled as princes and marquesses to reward their roles in the Meiji Restoration.
Succession and Numbers
– Only the actual holder of a title and their consort were considered members of the kazoku.
– Prince and marquess automatically became members of the House of Peers upon succession or majority.
– Counts, viscounts, and barons elected representatives to sit in the House of Peers.
– The Peerage Act of 1884 expanded the hereditary peerage and awarded kazoku status to individuals who performed distinguished public services.
– Titles and hereditary financial stipends usually passed according to primogeniture, allowing illegitimate sons to succeed.
Adoption and Lineage
– Heads of kazoku houses could adopt sons from collateral branches or other kazoku houses to prevent lineages from dying out.
– Adopted heirs could succeed to a title ahead of a more senior heir in terms of primogeniture.
– A 1904 amendment allowed minor princes of the imperial family to renounce their status and become peers or heirs to childless peers.
– The kazoku reached a peak of 1016 families in 1944.
– The 1947 Constitution of Japan abolished the kazoku and ended the use of all titles of nobility or rank.
Prominent Families
– The heads of the Mori and Shimazu clans were ennobled as princes for their roles in the Meiji Restoration.
– The Yamauchi clan was given the rank of marquess.
– Several other prominent daimyo clans became marquesses, including Asano, Ikeda, Kuroda, Satake, Nabeshima, Hachisuka, Hosokawa, and Maeda.
– The head of the Date clan, which had ruled Sendai Domain, was only ennobled as a count due to the domain’s role against the Imperial forces.
– Many individuals who had significant roles in the Meiji Restoration, or their heirs, were ennobled as counts, marquesses, or princes. Source URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazoku
